Wednesday 24 April 2019

Caring for the mental health of the medical workforce

Caring for the mental health of the medical workforce This report provides a summary of findings from a large-scale survey into doctors’ and medical students’ mental health. The survey, which was open to BMA members and non-members across the UK received over 4,300 responses. Four in ten respondents to our survey reported currently experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, burnout, stress, emotional distress or a mental health condition that is impacting on their work/training/study. British Medical Association

Pay deal row erupts between government and NHS England

Pay deal row erupts between government and NHS England A row has broken out between the government and NHS England over £50m funding for NHS staff pay.

The money is due to be paid this year for the annual pay rise promised by the government to staff in NHS public health services, like sexual health, health visiting and school nursing.

But both the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are refusing to fund it, leaving the providers of these services – mostly NHS community and mental health trusts – facing large gaps in their income. Health Service Journal

Breast cancer surgeon who got breast cancer

Breast cancer surgeon who got breast cancer "Like many women, I did not check my breasts. I thought, 'it's not going to happen to me - I'm a breast cancer surgeon'."

Liz O'Riordan ended up having to give up the job she had trained 20 years for, after she herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. BBC News

One In Five LGBTQ+ NHS Staff Have Been Attacked n The Last Year - HuffPost UK

One In Five LGBTQ+ NHS Staff Have Been Attacked n The Last Year One in five NHS staff who are LGBTQ+ say they have been attacked while working in the last 12 months, new figures reveal.

When responding to the 2018 NHS Staff Survey, more than 20% of those identifying as gay and bisexual reported experiencing at least one attack in the last 12 months from patients, service users, relatives or other members of the public. Huffington Post UK

Give local authorities extra powers to curb junk food ads – report

Give local authorities extra powers to curb junk food ads – report Local authorities should be given greater powers to make it easier for them to impose restrictions on junk food advertising in their areas, a report has recommended.

Loopholes ripe for closure include the rules governing promotions in public telephone boxes – normally outside councils’ jurisdiction – while the remit of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) should be extended to advertising not only near schools but also nurseries, children’s centres, parks, family attractions and leisure centres, it said. The Guardian

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Hancock: NHS must adopt new technology or it will not survive 

Hancock: NHS must adopt new technology or it will not survive The NHS must adopt new technology in order to survive, the health secretary has warned, as a report calls for widespread use of robots and artificial intelligence.

The study by the Taxpayers Alliance suggests one tenth of the NHS budget could be saved by the introduction of “automation” across the health service.

The report highlights innovations, such as the use of AI to analyse emergency calls, which were found to detect life-threatening situations more quickly. The Daily Telegraph

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Government promises £8million to give ambulance staff body cameras

Government promises £8million to give ambulance staff body cameras A third paramedics have been attacked in the past year, according to official figures from the NHS.

Nearly 7,000 ambulance staff admitted to having suffered physical violence at work last year from patients and the public.

The figures have prompted the Government to announce a series of measures that could see all paramedics given body-worn cameras.

In an announcement today, health chiefs promised to spend £8million on a pilot that will see staff at three ambulance trusts wear them. The Daily Mail